The other day, WWJ's Murray Feldman shared that with interest rates trending down, many homeowners could refinance. However, he said 1 in 4 refinancing applications are denied, often due to a high debt to income ratio . Your bills, expenses, etc, should be between 36% and 43% of your income.
Podcast: The Feldman Report - The refinancing boom (3/17)
Showing posts with label Personal Finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal Finance. Show all posts
3/21/20
12/26/14
Calculators for Personal Finance
While I would take these numbers with a grain of salt, I still think it's useful to get a ballpark figure, especially when you don't know where to start. Check out the NOLO Calculators on personal finance, investing, retirement and more.
7/14/09
Podcast: Author Sharon Kedar talks about personal finance
My former boss introduced me to the podcast that the Commonwealth Club of California puts out. In general, the podcasts are all pretty freaking great, but the other day while toiling with laundry, I had the pleasure of hearing author Sharon Kedar talk about personal finance. Please, if you aren't a personal finance guru, check this podcast out. It's very informative and I guarantee you'll learn something important.
The podcast is partly about the book co-authored by Manisha Thakor called On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance. The book sounds great and I am definitely going to check it out, but the podcast provides solid advice for men and women alike. The moderator, Cathy Curtis, also adds tons of valuable insight through asking great questions and sparking interesting conversation. This is a particularly great personal finance podcast to listen to if you are in your 20s or 30s.
Listen to the podcast at: cc_20090608_inforum_kedar.mp3
The podcast is partly about the book co-authored by Manisha Thakor called On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance. The book sounds great and I am definitely going to check it out, but the podcast provides solid advice for men and women alike. The moderator, Cathy Curtis, also adds tons of valuable insight through asking great questions and sparking interesting conversation. This is a particularly great personal finance podcast to listen to if you are in your 20s or 30s.
Listen to the podcast at: cc_20090608_inforum_kedar.mp3
10/9/08
Counting makes it all better
Never thought I'd write something like that. I hate math. Always have. But I've been using my brain (and fingers and toes) for a lot of counting lately. This has the scent of OCD, but I'm cool with that. Counting has really been helping me. Here are my latest counting endeavors...
- When I saw the economy taking a nose dive I really started thinking about finance seriously. I started listening to business podcasts, paying attention to industry trends and just keeping abreast what was going on. Obviously, things looked real bad and I acted on something that I have heard personal finance experts shout from the mountaintops - CREATE A BUDGET! You can't begin to make changes to your spending habits if you don't know what they are. This can be said for the following points as well. It's kind of a pain in the butt at first, but you get used to it and you learn about where your money is going.
- About three months ago, I quit smoking for good. No longer would I put myself through the torment of the habit. It was not easy. I found that when I was in bars I would count how many cigarettes people smoked. Man, do they speed up when they have a few adult beverages in them! That was pretty appalling. Yet, perhaps the best way to use counting to QUIT SMOKING is to count how much money you save. When I smoked, I would purchase two packs of cigarettes a week at $5 a pack. I haven't smoked in twelve weeks, meaning I saved $60. That may not seem like a lot, but at least it's being spent for something that isn't going up in smoke. I'll probably put it toward a pair of running shoes.
- I've been on a pretty strict DIET lately and I'm exercising more. I have been calorie-counting like crazy. It's miserable, don't get me wrong, but it is so enlightening. You have to know your bad spending habits before you can fix them and you have to know your bad eating habits before you can fix those. Hence, I'm much familiar with the nutritional values of my favorite foods, what healthy portions look like, where I can cut out sugars and the like. I've been trying to keep a count of my calories, both consumed and burned, on this website called myfitnesspal.com. It's worked pretty well so far and it also lets you add your own foods.
8/27/08
Take the good with the bad...
I cruised down to Wayne State University in Detroit to do some research for a client at the Detroit Public Library. I had a mixed experience. It dealt with credit and food.
The bad...
As I turned off Warren and headed for the parking structure my eyes turned into tiny slits and I felt my face warm with anger. I saw the messengers of financial doom huddled under their mercenary tent, pictured here. I almost told them they should be a shamed of themselves, but decided since I was looking for a job, it might not be the best time to get smacked with any harassment charges.
The reason that I was so furious about this tent and the Chase minions under it was because of a documentary I watched a bit ago called Maxed Out. If you haven't seen it you must! If you have a kid going to college for the first time, or if you are a freshman reading this blog, take heed: if you are offered a credit card, turn and run like hell.
I understand that people need money in college for stuff, but the reason that these credit card companies come to campus is because they KNOW that students will drop into debt. Students, especially freshmen, are still learning how to spend money, but if they don't learn quick, Chase and all the other thievery corporations of its type bank off the learning curve. Hence, newly graduated high school students think they're getting a taste of independence, when all they're really doing is paving the first stretch of road that leads to terrible debt.
You know who else credit card companies bank of off? Poor people. Like students, poor people don't know how to spend their money and often times fall right into the credit hole as well. Huge corporate conglomerates like this don't make money off of rich people. They make money off poor people who don't know any better. It's disgusting, but all explained very clearly in Maxed Out. Besides, how do you think the mortgage crisis started? Same idea, give to the poor and bank off their mistakes.
The good...
After I completed my research, I took a stroll across the street to Wayne State's Farmer's Market. I was a little late, but still managed to score some beautiful garlic and squash. Good times. There were some good-looking peppers, too, but I didn't have enough cash on me. I've got to say, I'm really happy to learn about all these different farmer's markets in the area - there's one in Southfield every Thursday, one in Royal Oak every Friday and Saturday and there's always good ol' Eastern Market, which I've still never been to. Looking for a farm or farmer's market near you? Check out http://www.localharvest.org/. I haven't visited in a while, but definitely noticed that many more specs have appeared on the map, which is great news for local growers.
In related news, I heard about this really interesting (and controversial) new documentary called Food Matters. Probably one of the biggest draws for me with this flick is that it discusses how doctors aren't asking simple, but insanely important questions about our health: those regarding our nutrition. You know, questions like whether we are staying hydrated, what does our daily diet look like, etc. Thinking back on my visits to the doctor, I don't recall ever being asked that (just being scolded for smoking). What's up with that, doc?
If you're looking for some ideas on how to eat better, I might recommend the website http://www.nutritiondata.com/. There's a fantastic blog there, calorie counters and information about the food you eat, from how nutritious it is to how filling it is. I'm no mega-nutrition expert, but we've all got to start somewhere (and apparently it ain't at the doctors office - that's right, I said "ain't").
The bad...
As I turned off Warren and headed for the parking structure my eyes turned into tiny slits and I felt my face warm with anger. I saw the messengers of financial doom huddled under their mercenary tent, pictured here. I almost told them they should be a shamed of themselves, but decided since I was looking for a job, it might not be the best time to get smacked with any harassment charges.
The reason that I was so furious about this tent and the Chase minions under it was because of a documentary I watched a bit ago called Maxed Out. If you haven't seen it you must! If you have a kid going to college for the first time, or if you are a freshman reading this blog, take heed: if you are offered a credit card, turn and run like hell.
I understand that people need money in college for stuff, but the reason that these credit card companies come to campus is because they KNOW that students will drop into debt. Students, especially freshmen, are still learning how to spend money, but if they don't learn quick, Chase and all the other thievery corporations of its type bank off the learning curve. Hence, newly graduated high school students think they're getting a taste of independence, when all they're really doing is paving the first stretch of road that leads to terrible debt.
You know who else credit card companies bank of off? Poor people. Like students, poor people don't know how to spend their money and often times fall right into the credit hole as well. Huge corporate conglomerates like this don't make money off of rich people. They make money off poor people who don't know any better. It's disgusting, but all explained very clearly in Maxed Out. Besides, how do you think the mortgage crisis started? Same idea, give to the poor and bank off their mistakes.
The good...
After I completed my research, I took a stroll across the street to Wayne State's Farmer's Market. I was a little late, but still managed to score some beautiful garlic and squash. Good times. There were some good-looking peppers, too, but I didn't have enough cash on me. I've got to say, I'm really happy to learn about all these different farmer's markets in the area - there's one in Southfield every Thursday, one in Royal Oak every Friday and Saturday and there's always good ol' Eastern Market, which I've still never been to. Looking for a farm or farmer's market near you? Check out http://www.localharvest.org/. I haven't visited in a while, but definitely noticed that many more specs have appeared on the map, which is great news for local growers.
In related news, I heard about this really interesting (and controversial) new documentary called Food Matters. Probably one of the biggest draws for me with this flick is that it discusses how doctors aren't asking simple, but insanely important questions about our health: those regarding our nutrition. You know, questions like whether we are staying hydrated, what does our daily diet look like, etc. Thinking back on my visits to the doctor, I don't recall ever being asked that (just being scolded for smoking). What's up with that, doc?
If you're looking for some ideas on how to eat better, I might recommend the website http://www.nutritiondata.com/. There's a fantastic blog there, calorie counters and information about the food you eat, from how nutritious it is to how filling it is. I'm no mega-nutrition expert, but we've all got to start somewhere (and apparently it ain't at the doctors office - that's right, I said "ain't").
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